Exit of Top Argentine Issue
Drains Liquidity From Market

By

Craig Karmin Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated July 6, 1999 1:31 a.m. ET

In Argentina, what's good for the economy these days isn't necessarily good for the stock market.

A Spanish energy company's recent $15 billion acquisition of YPF, the big Argentine oil and gas concern, is a boon to the shrinking and capital-starved Argentine economy. But the takeover removes nearly all of YPF's shares from the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange.

The absence of what had been Argentina's bellwether stock further drains...